Non-infectious encephalitis in the paediatric intensive care unit

Abstract

Acute encephalitis remains a frequent cause of admission in paediatric intensive care units. Although most cases are due to infective causes, non-infectious acute encephalitis is less well known and its diagnosis and treatment are frequently delayed. Hereby we describe the main causes of non-infectious acute encephalitis including acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, macrophage activation syndrome related acute encephalitis, Hashimoto encephalitis, anti-N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor encephalitis and fever-infection related epilepsy syndrome (FIRES)/devastating epilepsy in school-age children (DESC) syndrome.